Federal Labor says it is ready to support the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement after securing "legally binding safeguards" requiring labour market testing, use of enterprise agreements as a reference point for 457 visa workers' salaries and a 90-day deadline on obtaining occupational or trades licences.
FWC Vice President Michael Lawler has used a secretly-recorded phone conversation with tribunal president Iain Ross to challenge his claim that he never said the besieged member had an unlimited entitlement to sick leave.
A lingerie store manager allegedly labelled a "sl-t" after refusing the s-xual advances of a director at a work function was exposed to unlawful adverse action when the company refused to re-employ her, the Federal Circuit Court has found.
An FWC full bench has upheld a decision to grant an entry permit to CFMEU construction and general division Queensland branch secretary Michael Ravbar, and dismissed the FWBC’s arguments that he was vicariously liable for the behaviour of other union officials as "riddled with unsubstantiated hyperbole".
A Queensland parliamentary inquiry into fly-in, fly-out arrangements recommends that proposed new minimum accommodation standards "advise against" motelling and hot-bedding arrangements and that the state discrimination statute outlaw job advertisements that exclude workers who live near projects with non-residential workforces.
The Turnbull Government will appoint an independent investigator to inquire into complaints about the conduct of FWC Vice President Michael Lawler, Workplace Relations Minister Michaelia Cash announced this morning.
The Fair Work Commission will engage an external "plain language expert" to redraft the Pharmacy Award before it is user-tested in a pilot as part of the tribunal's four-yearly review of modern awards.
The Fair Work Commission has hit back at Productivity Commission criticism, with its President, Iain Ross, saying that the PC's IR inquiry findings appear to reflect a "misunderstanding of [the] Commission's statutory role and functions".
Lawyers have told the Productivity Commission that its proposals to end tenure for new FWC appointees and to subject members to performance reviews would undermine the umpire's independence, while raising concern about a suggestion that only non-lawyers should determine matters in the proposed minimum standards division.